Tag: Happiness

Finding Harmony: The Message of ‘Peace Over Politics’ by Tonja Myles

The new book ‘Peace Over Politics’ gives practical tools to manage mental health and chronic stress during election season. Photo: Amazon

The mental health crisis in America persists as a silent epidemic, affecting millions across all demographics. Despite increased awareness, stigma and inadequate access to care have worsened the situation, leaving many untreated or undertreated, especially among marginalized communities. Anxiety and depression rates are soaring, compounded by societal pressures, economic instability, and now, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing this crisis demands systemic changes, from policy reforms to efforts to destigmatize getting treatment, to ensure every individual has access to the support they need for their mental well-being.

In her new book, author Tonja Myles and mental health expert addresses the importance of protecting your inner peace during political chaos. Polarized politics and never-ending news cycles have created a national mental health crisis that will only worsen if people cannot build needed skills to survive. (Tonja Myles, 2024)

“Today’s political climate is more divisive than ever, and you have to protect your inner peace and mental health like never before. Our current election season is a source of chronic stress that will only worsen if we do not learn the needed skills to cope.” – 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline subject matter expert and spokeswoman Tonja Myles

Released this month, “Peace Over Politics: How to Navigate Protecting Your Peace During Political Climates,” gives readers practical tools to manage this crisis. According to the American Psychological Association, following daily political news can negatively affect your mental health, but disengaging from society can be harmful too, she says. Myles, a community engagement advisor for the Huntsman Family Foundation and mental health expert, says everyone must learn how to practice self-care while balancing good citizenship, regardless of political party.

The book shows readers how to cultivate inner harmony while engaging in compassionate activism to create positive change in the world. With these skills, people can gracefully navigate political differences and create unity within their communities, she says.

The book “shares many of the tools, tips, and resources that are needed to build a blueprint for living whole and well even when much around us, online and offline, is loud, divisive, and needlessly harmful,” says American Psychiatric Association Foundation Executive Director, Rawle Andrews Jr.

“Peace Over Politics: How to Navigate Protecting Your Peace During Political Climates” will help readers:

  • Understand inner harmony – become self-aware and emotionally balanced so you can navigate political discourse with composure and empathy
  • Reflect on your values – examine your values and determine how they align with your desire for peace amidst political influences
  • Navigate ideological differences – engage in constructive conversations with empathy and active listening to foster understanding and bridge divides
  • Make healthy boundaries – set and assert healthy boundaries to protect your peace in the face of political discourse and societal pressures
  • Create community connections – engage in community activities, promote dialogue, and collaborate to cultivate your peace and shared understanding amidst political differences
  • Practice compassionate activism – create positive changes in the world while you prioritize your peace and well-being

Tonja Myles is the co-founder and executive director of the faith-based outpatient center Set Free Indeed and the community support program Set Free Indeed Ministry. She is the community engagement advisor for the Huntsman Family Foundation and spokeswoman for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. She has won more than a dozen awards for her service including the Johns Hopkins Substance Abuse Innovators Award 2005 and the Daily Point of Light award 2004. She is an ordained minister, Certified Peer Recovery Specialist, author, community activist, and Army National Guard veteran.

New book release: ‘Nature’s Antidepressant: Harnessing Earth’s Gifts for Wellness’ by Drake Wells

‘Nature’s Antidepressant: Harnessing Earth’s Gifts for Wellness’ is the new wellness guide by Drake Wells. Photo: Amazon

The new year is upon us with promises of new and better beginnings. For many people, their New Year’s resolutions include physical and mental wellness. I can attest to the restorative powers of spending time in nature and I try to spend as much time as possible outdoors. Just a simple walk outdoors can do wonders for your overall mood. Today’s new book release by Drake Wells touches on this important topic. “Nature’s Antidepressant: Harnessing Earth’s Gifts for Wellness” embraces the healing power of getting back to nature to cure our mental ills. So if you are looking for a resource guide to mental wellbeing, consider this new book. It is available now on Amazon.

Drake Wells is a Division I runner, Eagle Scout, and outdoor enthusiast living in Houston, TX. He has written descriptive poetry connecting themes in nature to mental clarity, including his published work, “Embers,” which won the Scholastic Gold Key award in 2020. Drake’s experiences with the outdoor world, from sailing the Florida Keys, to surviving the wilderness, have equipped him to illuminate the transformative impact of nature on human well-being, seen through the eyes of someone who has lived it. His new book “Nature’s Antidepressant: Harnessing Earth’s Gifts for Wellness” offers not just insight but a holistic remedy for societal ailments. (Drake Wells, 2023)

“Nature’s Antidepressant: Harnessing Earth’s Gifts for Wellness” – In the chaotic modern world, yearning for simplicity and clarity is a common sentiment. Imagine a time when our ancestors thrived, deeply connected to nature’s rhythm. Could the remedy for today’s mental malaise lie not in medicine cabinets but in rekindling our ancestral bond with nature?

Join Drake Wells on a transformative journey through “Nature’s Antidepressant,” where he explores the contrast between ancient roots and contemporary lives. In vivid detail, Wells portrays our ancestors harmonizing with the environment, highlighting the stark contrast to our comfort-driven present. As modernization escalates, so does depression and anxiety.

Wells delves into the therapeutic power of nature, presenting scientific and psychological evidence of its profound impact on well-being. This book is more than a critique; it’s a call for a paradigm shift, a return to our natural roots. Envision a world where emotional struggles find resolution not in synthetic medications but in embracing the raw, rejuvenating power of our surroundings.

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Excerpt: ‘Your Heart Was Made For This’ by Oren Jay Sofer

‘Your Heart Was Made for This’ is the upcoming new book by Oren Jay Sofer. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Oren Jay Sofer teaches Buddhist meditation, mindfulness, and communication internationally. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication, and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Born and raised in New Jersey, he is the author of several books, including the best-selling title “Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication” and the latest “Your Heart Was Made For This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting in a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.” His teaching has reached people worldwide through online communication courses and guided meditations. Oren lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and son, where he enjoys cooking, spending time in nature, and home woodworking projects. “Your Heart Was Made For This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting in a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love” will be released November 21, 2023 and is available for pre-order from Amazon.

“Your Heart Was Made For This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting in a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love”- from the bestselling author of “Say What You Mean” and meditation teacher comes a pragmatic guide to living a life of meaning and purpose in a time of great social, environmental, and spiritual upheaval. Through touching stories, insightful reflections, and concrete instructions, Sofer offers powerful tools to strengthen our hearts and nourish the qualities that can transform our world. Each chapter guides you to cultivate a quality essential to personal and social transformation like mindfulness, resolve, wonder, and empathy. You will learn ways to find more choice and freedom in life, strengthen focus, sustain energy, and accomplish goals, identify burnout and take steps to renew yourself, imbue your daily activities with clarity and vitality, and respond more effectively to collective challenges.

Excerpt from “Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love” © 2023 by Oren Jay Sofer. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO.

“Your heart was made for love: for connection, belonging, and meaningful relationship with other people, beings, and the earth. Your heart was made to give and receive; to know joy, purpose, and freedom. All of this is possible for you and for each of us. Yet painful emotions, ignorance, and oppressive conditions disconnect us from our hearts’ potential. The flow of this love has encountered obstacles from the beginning, but perhaps never more so than now. Our ancestors’ village was not the global village of the twenty-first century with its seemingly infinite complexities and pressures, nor did we evolve to engage with social media algorithms or constant alerts of tragedy. How do we reclaim our birthright to love while navigating a complex world in crisis? How do we make love our guide?

The Buddha long ago taught that we can shape our inner lives: “Whatever the mind frequently thinks upon and ponders, that will become its inclination.” Our thoughts, feelings, and intentions grow into habits and over time settle into our character. Contemplative practice roots itself in this power to mold the heart and thus renew ourselves. Today, we call this “neuroplasticity.” If we do not shape the heart, the world will do it for us, and the world does not have our highest welfare in mind.

The tide of modern society floods us with incessant pressures, demands, and desires. On a personal level, urgency, confusion, and fear spin us in a blur, grind us down, and sap our energy. On a global level, war, social unrest, and a growth-driven economy sweep through our communities, setting us on a course for violence and ecocide. It takes steady, continuous effort to swim against these currents, make choices based on our values, and turn the tide together.

We are living through a mass extinction of our own making. The climate crisis, the rise of fascism and the erosion of democracy, the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing trauma of injustice and oppression rooted in colonialism—these are our present reality. What will be our legacy? We are capable of beauty, but we destroy; we embody elegance, but are soaked in blood. Some days, it’s a lot just to get out of bed in the morning.

And, our actions matter, individually and collectively. Every action plants a seed. Some seeds bear fruit in this lifetime, while others lie dormant for generations. We harvest the fruit of our ancestors’ actions—for good and for ill— and our choices today shape the future.

How do we meet our challenges and choose wisely? To truly meet something is to encounter it with awareness, enter into relationship with it, and respond appropriately. How we respond when we contact pain, sorrow, and injustice? Do we become broken, embittered, lost, or frozen? Do we lash out in anger, fear, or hatred, adding fuel to the fire? Or are we able to find the balance and clarity to meet the suffering of our world with tenderness, wisdom, and skillful action?

Responding effectively depends on training the heart and developing inner resources. We may not recognize it, but we are always practicing something. Our thoughts, words, and actions shape us. Each one creates a trickle of water flowing downhill, carving a channel in the fertile soil of our heart and mind. If you practice feeling anxious, stressed, and agitated, you etch those grooves deeper. If you practice patience, kindness, and ease, with every moment you grow stronger. In fact, these heart qualities can become your default orientation so that, when hardships arise, you draw not on old reactions but on new strengths.

Like an ecosystem recovering its innate balance, when we stop adding pollutants and seed the proper species, the process of awakening begins to flower in our hearts. Nourishing the heart is joyful. Remembering our potential and aligning ourselves with our deepest vision for life can happen in any moment, and can be filled with lightness and beauty. This is contemplative practice.

Such practice cultivates reflective, critical awareness and explores meaning, value, and purpose. It includes the arts, ritual, storytelling, relationship, and meditation, and it can provide the strength and clarity necessary to engage skillfully with the immense problems of our times— to mourn what we have lost, heal what we can heal, and transform what calls for change. If we are to adapt and grow, if we are to survive and create a better world, we need inner resources to meet our challenges.”

Author Oren Jay Sofer. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
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Book of the week: ‘Stop & Smell the Roses’ by Jolene Stephens

‘Stop & Smell the Roses’ is the new self help book by Jolene Stephens. Photo: Jolene Stephens, used with permission.

For anyone looking for a self help book dealing with mindfulness and ideas and recommendations about how to slow down and take time to enjoy life, here is a good one. From just simply taking time to appreciate your surroundings to actually listening during conversations with others, Jolene Stephens’ “Stop & Smell the Roses” is a reminder to take time to enjoy the good things in life. It might just change your outlook in life.

Jolene Stephens has always been interested in self-help information and the desire to write about it. Life has provided her with many growing experiences and learning opportunities. She and her family have been through nearly every scenario a family can experience. They did not do everything right, not even close, but over the years their constant conflicts have been replaced with love and respect for one another’s beliefs and the path each person is on. Her personal experiences have given her a treasure trove of sound, practical ideas on how to handle almost any situation. More importantly, she has come through many trials with a strong, positive attitude and a sincere desire to help others. Jolene is a retired graphic designer and is currently a certified Emotion Code/Body Code Practitioner. Her new book “Stop & Smell the Roses: Let the Past Go, Stop Worrying About the Future, and Be Mindfully Present in Your Life!” is a quick and easy read about how to stay focused and be present in your life. (Jolene Stephens, 2023)

“Stop & Smell the Roses”–  Throughout the book, Jolene Stephens shares some of her own experiences to show the power of changing just one thing, as she highlights the aspects of our lives that provide opportunities for growth. She lists twenty-two simple ideas, any of which will help you be present in your own life. The journey is where life happens and what happens there is more important than the destination. We will all get to our destination, but what we do along the way is what counts.

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